On May 8, 2013, the Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey hosted the 20th International Maritime Hall of Fame Awards. Held at the Grand Hyatt, New York, NY, the dinner honored “maritime visionaries who, through excellence in their company, organization or services, best exemplify the qualities of futuristic thinking that will guide our industry in the 21st Century,” said Edward J. Kelly, executive director. ­­­Funds raised for the event promote educational services for the industry.

This year, the Hall of Fame welcomed six outstanding leaders from different aspects of the industry, presenting them with the Ship’s Lookout Award:

Founded in 1873, The Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey provides a vital service to the region, creating a constant bridge between various maritime groups and waterfront stakeholders. Through outreach, education and advocacy, the association has endeavored to ensure safe and responsible use of the shoreline and waterways. This spans issues of property zoning, environmental regulations and the education of the next generation, to mention a few. For 140 years, its work has strengthened the commercial maritime industry’s voice and visibility when decisions about land use in this densely urban NY-NJ area are being made because, Kelly points out, there won’t be extra land in the future, just more competition for its use.

Edward J. Kelly, executive director, The Maritime Association of the Port of New York and New Jersey, on the 2013 Ship’s Lookout Awardee selection and the state of the waterfront.

Michael R. BloombergMayorNew York City Recognized for his leadership in crafting an exemplary waterfront policy program.

Michael R. Bloomberg is the 108th Mayor of the City of New York.

In 1981, he started the global media company Bloomberg LP, which today has more than 310,000 subscribers to its financial news and information service. He began his career at Salomon Brothers in 1966.

As his company grew, Bloomberg directed more of his attention to philanthropy. He has sat on the boards of numerous charitable institutions, including Johns Hopkins University, where he helped build the Bloomberg School of Public Health into one of the world’s leading institutions of public health research and training.

In 2001, he ran for mayor of the City of New York and won in a major upset. In office, Mayor Bloomberg has cut crime by more than 35 percent and created jobs by attracting new investment and supporting small business growth. He has implemented ambitious public health strategies, including the ban on smoking in restaurants and bars, and expanded support for arts and cultural organizations. His education reforms have driven graduation rates up 40 percent since 2005.

The Mayor’s economic policies have helped New York City avoid the level of job losses that many other cities experienced during the national recession. Since October 2009, New York added twice as many private sector jobs as the next 10 largest U.S. cities combined.

Michael Bloomberg attended Johns Hopkins University and received an MBA from Harvard Business School. He is the father of two daughters, Emma and Georgina.

Appointed company president at the age of 32, Morton S. Bouchard III is the fourth generation to manage Bouchard Transportation Co. With operations on the East Coast, Gulf Coast of the U.S. and the Caribbean, it is the largest privately owned oceangoing petroleum barge company in the United States. He was promoted to CEO in 1999.

Bouchard continued the family tradition of investing profits in new, modern equipment to better serve its customers and — after the passage of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 — instituted the first U.S. double-hull barge construction program. It began building flat-deck, double-hull oceangoing petroleum barges in 1992 and, under Bouchard’s leadership, has moved forward aggressively with construction to be the owner and operator of the largest such fleet in the U.S. The company recently announced another construction phase that includes up to three 255,000-barrel-per-day articulated tug barge units.

Bouchard graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1980 and served on its board of trustees for eight years, directly responsible for raising funds for the upgrading of two stadiums. He has also been actively involved on the Huntington/Cold Spring Harbor Youth Lacrosse board and in the conversion of Cold Spring Harbor High School varsity stadium into one of the first high school turf stadiums in Long Island, NY. He has served on the board of directors of American Waterway Operators and is a current member of the U.S. Coast Guard Foundation and the American Steamship Owners Mutual Protection and Indemnity Association boards.

Joseph A. DortoPresident and CEOVirginia International Terminals 30+years developing the Port of Virginia into a major economic engine

Since August 25, 1988, Joseph A. Dorto has been president and CEO of Virginia International Terminals, a nonstock/non-profit corporation serving as the operating company for the Virginia Port.

A native of New York City, he majored in marketing at Queens College and is also a graduate of the American Management Association Management School. From 1969-1979, he held operational and sales managerial positions with Sea-Land Service, in New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C. Joining Virginia Port Authority in 1979, he served as director of trade development through 1981 and then senior marketing director through 1986. Prior to holding his current position at Virginia International Terminals, he was international marketing director as well as deputy general manager.

During Dorto’s tenure the ports of Virginia, volume levels have reached more than 2 million TEUs and marketing efforts have established Hampton Roads as the natural Mid-Atlantic load center on the East Coast and one of the fastest-growing U.S. ports. Under his leadership, the first neutral chassis pool in the country was formed. VIT was the first U.S. port to achieve more than 97 percent 10-year contracts with the shipping lines.

He has received the highest awards given in the Port of Hampton Roads – Foreign Commerce Club’s Commerce Builder Award, The Society of Maritime Industries’ Outstanding and Dedicated Service Award and Distinguished Service Award for Leadership in Port Activity.

Dorto’s activities include Hampton Roads Foreign Commerce Club; Propeller Club of the U.S.; American Association of Port Authorities; the board of directors of Through Transport Mutual Insurance Co., Hampton Roads Chamber of Commerce, Hampton Roads Shipping Association, Hampton Roads Maritime Association, Seamen’s House, Sentara’s Hospital for Extended Recovery and Town Point Club; as well as sitting on the advisory board of Kings Point Merchant Marine Academy and the regional advisory board of TowneBank.

E. Hunter HarrisonCEOCanadian Pacific RailwayNearly 50 years in the industry – A rail leader and visionary in transportation, customer service and logistics.

E. Hunter Harrison joined Canadian Pacific Railway as CEO in 2012. He served at Canadian National Railway as president and CEO from 2003-2009, as executive vice president and chief operating officer from 1998-2002, and on CN’s board of directors for 10 years. With nearly 50 years of experience in the industry, he brings valuable railroad knowledge to CP.

From 1993-1998, Harrison was president and CEO at Illinois Central Corp. and Illinois Central Railroad Co. and a member of the board. Throughout his time at IC and ICRR, he held various positions including vice president, chief operating officer and senior vice president of operations. Prior to his time at IC and ICRR, Harrison serves as Burlington Northern’s vice president of transportation and vice president of service design. His railroad career began in 1963 when he joined “the Frisco” (St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad) as a carman-oiler in Memphis while still attending school.

He has served as a director on several railway companies and industry associations, including The Belt Railway of Chicago, Wabash National Corp., The Association of American Railroads, Terminal Railway, TTX Co., Canadian National, Illinois Central Corp. and Illinois Central Railroad Co. He has received numerous accolades, including North America’s Railroader of the Year by RailwayAge magazine, in 2002, and CEO of the Year by The Globe and Mail’s Report on Business magazine, in 2007.

Born in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1913 to a Danish father and an American mother, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller eventually dedicated his life to the businesses that his father had founded and which they developed together until A.P. Møller’s death in 1965.

Møller began his apprenticeship in 1930, and he worked in shipping and banking companies in Denmark, Germany, the United Kingdom and France before returning to Copenhagen in 1938 to work in his father’s business. Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller became a partner in the firm A.P. Moller in 1940 and managed the company’s interests in the United States from 1940 to 1947.

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller was the company’s chairman and CEO and chairman from 1965 to 1993, when he withdrew from day-to-day management. He continued to serve as chairman of the board until 2003, when Michael Pram Rasmussen assumed the chairmanship.

In his leadership of the company, Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller paid profound respect to his father’s work and the values that he had created and instilled. However, his attention was also directed towards the new opportunities of an increasingly globalized world.

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller treasured his second country and its importance in the world. He served on the board of IBM and as a member of the International Council at Morgan Guaranty Trust Co.

The strength that comes from stable ownership was very important to Møller. As chairman of the foundations created by his father, he was responsible for the inward consolidation of values, as well as the many public donations, both large and small, that have benefited society at large. Today, the A.P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation is the controlling shareholder of the company.

Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller passed away on April 16, 2012, having attended the annual general meeting of A.P. Møller – Mærsk A/S only four days earlier. In his later years, Møller often expressed his wishes for the future: “…use your lives, live the values and more than anything – guide the company with constant care.”

Over the last decade, Ronald D. Widdows has been recognized as one of the U.S. shipping industry’s leading advocate on public policy issues. He continues to contribute to the container shipping sector in his role as chairman of the World Shipping Council, which is located in Washington, D.C., and Brussels, a position he has held since 2008. The WSC represents the liner shipping industry in its engagement with governments regarding security, customs regulations, regulatory affairs, with a significant focus on the development of environmental standards related to improving the industry’s impact on air and water quality.

Widdows has been recognized by the U.S. National Defense Transportation Association, University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business, the United Seaman’s Service and Containerization International, for his contributions to the U.S. maritime sector.

He is a former chairman of the Transpacific Stabilization Agreement – a research and discussion group of major container shipping lines offering ocean and inland transportation, logistics and supply chain services from Asia to the U.S. In addition, Widdows was also the chairman of the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement and is an advisory board member of the International Transport Forum, based in Leipzig, Germany.

The Rickmers Group is a diversified group of companies in the shipping sector, active in the business fields of maritime assets, maritime services and logistics services. Headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, the group is represented worldwide by 20 offices and a comprehensive network of 50 agencies. Rickmers Group operates a fleet comprising more than 105 container ships, multipurpose vessels, car carriers and bulk carriers; has 3,200 employees at sea and 450 staff ashore.